LIKE ALL ART, PHOTOGRAPHY CREATES ITS OWN REALITY. AND THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHS ARE NOT THOSE WHICH SUCCINCTLY RECORD WHAT HAS BEEN SEEN, BUT THOSE WHICH UNDERSTAND HOW TO STRUCTURE THIS ACCORDING TO RULES AND LAWS SPECIFIC TO THE GENRE.—FROM ICONS OF PHOTOGRAPHY
There is just “something about” certain photographs, isn’t there? If you’re like me, you pause at the sight of them in magazines and journals, on gallery and museum walls, in family archives and in antique stores, and marvel at that “something.” What makes them so intriguing is difficult or impossible to describe verbally because it exists as a strictly visual construct. But even if we can’t describe it, we know when we see it. It occurs when the form of a photograph inextricably ties its subject and content together (we’ll explore this in Chapter 1). This cohesion, particular to photographs possessing “that something,” is created most often by photographers who see photography as a visual language, and who use its grammatical elements to express meaning.
WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF PHOTOGRAPHY?
Grammar can be defined as “the foundational elements that comprise a science, art, discipline or practice,” so in addition to its ability to strike fear into the hearts of grade-schoolers, grammar is the basis upon which every form of language is built. That’s what this book is about—the grammar of photographic language—that is, the elements that make up the technical foundation, as well as dictate the visual outcome, of all photographic images. These elements are: the photographic frame and its borders, the aperture or lens and its effects on focus and depth of field, the shutter speed and its effects relative to time and motion, and the physical media used to create the aggregate image.
The elements do not operate in a hierarchical or sequential manner; they each play a unique role as they combine to form a coherent visual statement. This book explains the nature of the four photographic elements as well as how to control them technically. It demystifies their compositional and visual outcomes, and it examines their communicative and conceptual implications. Consciously employed by a skilled photographer, these elements will add advanced levels of depth, dimension, and meaning to your photographs.
WHY THE ELEMENTS MATTER
Just as avid readers don’t gain much enjoyment or insight from novels written with little command of the language in which they’re written, avid viewers don’t gain much enjoyment or insight from photographs made with little command of photographic language. It’s because just as combining parts of speech dictates the form and meaning of sentences, combining photography’s grammatical elements dictates the visual properties of photographs, which is how they communicate meaning. The relative success or failure of a photograph can be attributed to two things: what the intent behind the image is, and how well the image fulfills its purpose or communicates its message. Quite simply, photographs structured on the grammatical elements of photographic language as they relate to specific subjects are more likely to communicate successfully. A photographer’s control of the medium’s grammatical elements acts as a filter through which viewers see the world; often transparent to viewers, they are the primary means through which we transform our world into photographs. Insofar as a filter’s significance lies in how it alters something, the degree to which a photographer understands, employs, and manipulates these elements dictates the degree to which their photograph successfully communicates.
Beyond using grammar to structure and filter information, additional parallels can be made between written and photographic language, and their uses. For example, both types of language have practical and expressive uses. We use both written and photographic language to describe the world around us in informative ways; further, we use them to encapsulate, summarize, and communicate that information in ways that others can understand. We use them to “sell” others on ideas and commodities and as a means of propaganda and influence. We use them to record our personal and collective histories, to preserve them and share them with others, and to carry them into the future. We use both written and photographic language to interpret and evaluate events as they happen in our lives and in the larger world; we use them to theorize, synthesize, and conjecture, and even to obfuscate or to pose unanswerable questions. We use them scientifically, to research and express our findings. We also use them for the purpose of making art, as a means to express our personal perceptions of the world—its beauties and its horrors—and to experiment with unconventional uses of the language, thereby broadening and shaping our collective understanding of subjects and the language itself.
Whether we’re composing a technical manual (which we might equate with scientific or forensic photography), prose (photojournalism, documentary, or advertising photography), a personal journal (wedding or portrait photography), or a collection of poems, a novel, or research (fine art photography), the formal basis and structure of the language we use—its grammar—remains consistent consistent. Like the grammatical rules of written language, the grammatical rules of photographic language remain consistent regardless of how or to what end we use them. For all these reasons, photographers address the elements of photographic grammar, to the best of our ability, in order to fully mine the medium’s potential. At a time when more people than ever are making photographs professionally, to set yourself above the rest it’s imperative to study the elements upon which photography is based, and to implement those elements as communicative tools so that you can make visually literate images.
As previously stated, the four key technical elements that constitute the grammar of photographic language are: the photographic frame and its borders, the aperture or lens and its effect on focus and depth of field, the shutter speed and its effects relative to time and motion, and the physical media used to create the aggregate image. Because these elements are inherent to cameras and the physical media upon which images are captured, they provide an excellent framework for studying photography. In the end, photographers who understand these elements can successfully distill images from ideas; photographers who control and consciously put them into practice in their work can create images that perfectly represent their vision.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK: A CHAPTER OUTLINE
Chapter 1, “Before You Begin,” examines and explains how to use subject, content, and form—the three aspects that comprise any kind of composition. This part of the chapter guides you in selecting a single subject to explore throughout the exercises in the book. It also discusses what I call finding your thread—knowing what drives you to make photographs—through collecting tear sheets, forming critique groups, and writing artist statements.
Chapter 2, “Metering and Exposure,” provides a solid background in photography’s essence: using light to create images. It covers in-depth the methods for controlling and interpreting image density and histograms, as well as how to select the proper ISO, aperture, and shutter speed for a given situation. This chapter is a must for anyone who is relatively new to photography, but even if you’ve been making photographs for years, you can refresh your technical knowledge by starting here.
Chapter 3, “Framing, Borders, and Multiple Frames,” is written in three parts. First it studies the most fundamental means through which we transform the world we see into a photograph—the frame. The frame is the first photographic element because the camera’s imposed viewfinder is immediately placed between the photographer and the world. The first part of this chapter, “Framing,” discusses how to organize the frame using picture planes, vantage point, and juxtaposition—all natural outcomes of the camera’s translation of our three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional representation of it. This section also discusses frame format, media dimensions and cropping. Part two, “Borders: the Exterior Edges of the Frame,” examines the outermost boundaries of the frame—the borders of the media and print—because they contribute significant visual information relating to the image itself. Part three, “Using Multiple Frames,” teaches you methods of expanding on the photographic frame by exploring single images created through gestalt, including diptychs, typologies, contact sheet images, and multiframe panoramics.
Chapter 4, “Apertures: Focus, Lenses, and Clarity,” examines the nature of apertures as a portal through which the image is transported. It examines types of lenses to focus the image, as well as the relationship between the lens plane and media plane. This chapter discusses pinhole cameras, various nontraditional lenses, and several notions of clarity associated with lens quality, focus, and depth of field.
Chapter 5, “Shutter Speeds: Time and Motion” examines the world of motion as it appears when recorded onto static media (light-sensitive film, paper, or sensor). Part 1 outlines numerous technical considerations in order to demystify the process of successfully recording the range from frozen to blurred images. Part 2, “Multiple Moments in Time,” looks beyond a single exposure to the potential offered by multiple-exposure techniques, the use of sequences, and the use of single frames viewed over time.
Finally, Chapter 6, “Materials, Processes, and Presentation: The Aggregate Image,” deals with the physical attributes of the printed image and the meanings suggested by both capture and output media. Part 1, “Going Back to the Beginning,” examines attributes of size and scale, and grain structure, tint and tone. Part 2, “How Images Exist in the World,” expands on this discussion to include the means through which we display and share our images with viewers, in particular in gallery settings. Here I discuss several contemporary presentation methods as options to the traditional window mat, glass, and frame.
The book concludes with a discussion of the work of a single photographer, David Taylor, and how he uses all the elements of photography in ways that enable him to communicate his ideas to a diverse audience.
FORMAT
The format of The Elements of Photography will lead you to greater understanding of how photographs communicate by progressing from technical considerations to visual outcomes to potential for meaning through each chapter in succession.
Throughout the book you’ll find “Image Discussions” that explore various attributes of photographic language and use them to determine the meaning of the image.
Additionally, each chapter contains “Chapter Exercises” designed to help you engage, experiment, and create using the technical, visual, and theoretical information provided in the chapter. These exercises encourage you to broaden your thinking about how use photographic language to express your ideas.
Finally, each chapter ends with inspirational “Portfolio Pages” with selections from several photographers’ work intended to enrich the chapter’s information. I have written a brief “Elements” introduction to each portfolio to facilitate understanding and discussion of how the photographers successfully use photographic language to make their images. The photographers have provided Artist Statements addressing their work’s creative and conceptual meanings. These photographers’ work is not about the elements of photography, but they use the elements expertly in a wide variety of ways to illuminate viewers about the intended meaning of their work. The Portfolio Pages primarily represent fine art photography, but they also include documentary and commercial-editorial work to provide readers with an idea of the possibilities that control of these elements offers all photographers.
This is not an Adobe Photoshop text, but its principles can be mimicked using image-editing software programs such as Adobe Photoshop. If you wish to mimic camera techniques using digital means, it’s best to know what those techniques look like when they’re created through authentic means. The way to go about this is to use keywords from the chapter contents to research tutorials that mimic the techniques believably. Image editing after the fact can be made to look the same, but as every professional photographer knows, it’s more costly and time consuming than getting the image right in-camera. And that’s what this book is all about!
I have taught photography for more than a decade using this approach, and I am consistently amazed at the power of the imagery, both technically and creatively, that engaged practitioners achieve once they begin to explore the world through the grammar of photographic language. Using this approach, you too will become practiced in photographic technique, gain a more concrete understanding of photographic visual literacy, and build a strong body of work with which to demonstrate your unique vision to viewers including portfolio reviewers, employers, and image buyers. You will build confidence with the medium’s technical principles and how those principles translate into visual images, and you’ll develop a working method that is proven to be engaging and successful when exploring a subject photographically. You will stop “taking pictures” and begin “making photographs” because while anyone can take pictures, photographers understand and consciously utilize the medium’s grammar to make photographs. Through practice you will begin to make photographs that accurately communicate your message whether it’s political, personal, poetic, spiritual, aesthetic, or journalistic. Using the techniques outlined in this book, you’ll be well on your way to making the photographs you envision, successfully and with a sense of personal style.
I strongly advocate to image makers the necessity of incorporating interdisciplinary studies into your practice. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of carefully reading this and any book relevant to your field of study and thoughtfully researching any work about subjects that ignite your passion. Be inquisitive; be willing to explore. Don’t limit your research to direct information about your subject; look into how it influences or is influenced by broader cultural history, religion, philosophy, politics, sciences, social sciences, literature, photography, and other arts. Seek out information shared by others who are passionate about similar subjects to the point that they have researched and studied, written or made art about it. Using an interdisciplinary approach to understanding your subject is a photographer’s best asset; it informs your work in ways that visual exploration alone cannot.
EQUIPMENT AND EXPERIENCE NEEDED
The information and techniques included here were developed for photographers at any level who possess a basic foundation in the technical aspects of camera operation, as well as a fundamental working knowledge of darkroom printing or Adobe Photoshop (whichever suits your preference). The techniques explored in The Elements of Photography can be practiced with historical, traditional, digital, or a combination of media. Advanced practitioners can use this text to develop a portfolio that reflects a broader visual and theoretical perspective. These techniques are by no means an exhaustive study of photographic image making; rather, they are tools for developing a deeper understanding of the possibilities inherent within photographic practice.
Additional equipment such as specialized filters, alternative lenses, and tripod heads are discussed throughout the book. Most of these supplements are affordable and have the potential to enrich your exploration, but they are not required in order to practice and create an impressive body of photographic work. Above all, have fun and expand your photographic ideas to the limit!